Shopify's hard limits in 2026, in one line each: 2,048 variants but only 3 options per product; 5,000 automated collections; no staff accounts on Basic; 10 inventory locations below Plus and 200 on Plus; the information, shipping and payment steps of checkout customizable only on Plus; Shopify Scripts switched off on June 30, 2026; B2B and order value limits now on every plan; fixed /products/ and /collections/ URL prefixes; at most 5 discount codes per order. The table below has every limit, the plans it applies to, its source and the usual workaround.
Last verified: October 8, 2026, against Shopify's help center, developer documentation, changelog and pricing page (sources at the end). Shopify changes limits often β several articles that rank for this topic still quote numbers that changed in 2025 and 2026.
Disclosure: OrderRules is a Shopify app for one of these gaps β order limits. Everything else on this page is about Shopify itself.
Every limit at a glance
| Area | Limit | Plans | Workaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalog | 2,048 variants per product | All | Split into several products; Combined Listings (Plus) or a swatch app to group them |
| 3 options per product | All | A product-options app (line-item properties, no per-option inventory), or split products | |
| Over 500,000 variants: max 10,000 new variants a day | All except Plus | Plan big imports ahead, or Plus | |
| 250 images and 250 tags per product | All | Host extra media elsewhere; use metafields instead of tags | |
| Images up to 20 MB and 25 megapixels; video up to 10 min and 1 GB; 3D up to 500 MB | All | Compress before upload | |
| Collections | 5,000 automated collections, 60 conditions each | All | Tag- or metafield-based conditions; merge similar collections |
| Storefront filters disappear on collections with more than 5,000 products | All | Split large collections, or a search-and-filter app | |
| 50 products per page in Liquid pagination | All | Paginate, or load more with the Storefront API | |
| Checkout | Custom UI on the information, shipping and payment steps | Plus only | On other plans: the checkout editor, Thank you / Order status apps, and Functions |
checkout.liquid no longer works on checkout pages (since Aug 13, 2024) | All | Checkout extensibility | |
| Shopify Scripts stopped running (June 30, 2026) | Plus (was Plus-only) | Shopify Functions β see Scripts to Functions | |
| Apps with Functions: public App Store apps on any plan; custom apps only on Plus | β | Use an App Store app, or Plus for your own | |
| Max 25 checkout validation functions per store; none run on POS or subscription renewals | All | Combine rules into one app | |
| Orders | Native limits count within one cart or order only: add-to-cart limit per variant, B2B quantity rules, order value limits | All | An app with checkout validation for per-customer, daily or time-based limits β see native order limits vs apps |
| No store hours, delivery date picker or capacity caps at checkout | All | A scheduling app with checkout validation | |
| Draft orders created since April 1, 2025 are deleted after 1 year of inactivity | All | Complete or export drafts you need | |
| B2B | Up to 3 active B2B catalogs (unlimited on Plus); company-specific catalogs, partial payments and deposits are Plus-only | BasicβAdvanced | Plus, or a wholesale app |
| Plans and team | Staff accounts: 0 on Basic, 5 on Grow, 15 on Advanced, unlimited on Plus | β | Collaborator accounts; upgrade |
| Inventory locations: 10 on Basic, Grow and Advanced; 200 on Plus | β | Fulfillment-app locations don't count toward the limit | |
| Third-party payment gateway fee: 2% Basic, 1% Grow, 0.6% Advanced, 0.2% Plus | β | Shopify Payments where available | |
| Markets | No limit on country or region markets | All | β |
| Per-market theme and checkout customization: Advanced and Plus; per-market checkout blocks: Plus | β | Upgrade | |
| URLs and SEO | Fixed /products/, /collections/, /pages/, /blogs/ prefixes; only the handle is editable | All | Headless storefront for full URL control |
Products reachable at /collections/β¦/products/β¦ as well as /products/β¦ | All | Remove within: collection from theme links; keep the canonical on /products/ | |
robots.txt editable only through robots.txt.liquid (unsupported by Shopify Support) | All | Edit carefully; test with Search Console | |
sitemap.xml generated automatically, with no editor | All | Hide pages from search with noindex, or use robots rules | |
| Content | Blog posts grouped by tags or separate blogs; no categories | All | One blog per topic, or metaobjects |
| Metaobject definitions: 128 (256 on Plus); 40 fields each; 1,000,000 entries per definition | β | Plus, or fewer, broader definitions | |
| Discounts | Max 5 product or order discount codes plus 1 shipping code per order | All | Automatic discounts or a Discount Function app |
| Max 25 active automatic discounts, including app discounts | All | Consolidate rules in one Function | |
| More than one product discount on the same line item | Plus only | Upgrade, or a single combined discount | |
| APIs | REST Admin API is legacy; new public apps must use GraphQL (since April 2025) | β | GraphQL Admin API |
| GraphQL Admin: 100 points/second (200 Advanced, 1,000 Plus); 1,000 points max per query | β | Bulk operations for large jobs | |
| Input arrays max 250 items | All | Batch requests | |
| Accounts | Legacy (classic) customer accounts deprecated Feb 26, 2026; no sunset date yet | β | Move to new customer accounts |
What changed in 2026
- Shopify Scripts are gone. Editing stopped on April 15 and every script stopped running on June 30, 2026. Nothing was migrated automatically. Scripts couldn't block checkout; Functions can β see what replaces each script.
- B2B on every plan (April 2). Basic, Grow and Advanced get up to 3 B2B catalogs with quantity rules and volume pricing.
- Order value limits on every plan (April 13). Checkout Blocks sets a minimum or maximum order subtotal, including on Shop Pay and express checkouts.
- Legacy customer accounts deprecated (February 26). They're no longer available to new stores; Shopify hasn't announced a shutdown date.
- Thank you and Order status pages on non-Plus stores had to move off the old customizations by August 26, 2026.
Numbers other articles still get wrong
| Claim you'll still see | Current figure |
|---|---|
| 100 variants per product | 2,048, on every plan, since October 15, 2025 |
| After 50,000 variants, 1,000 new a day | After 500,000, 10,000 a day β and not on Plus |
| Basic includes 2 (or 5) staff accounts | 0 on Basic |
| Unlimited locations on Plus | 200 |
| Markets capped at 3 or 50 | No limit on country or region markets |
| Checkout apps need Plus | Only apps on the information, shipping and payment steps; Function apps work on every plan |
| Scripts are the way to customize checkout logic | Scripts stopped on June 30, 2026 |
The order-rules gap
One family of limits matters to almost every store that can't fulfill unlimited demand. Shopify's native order limits all count within one cart or one order: the add-to-cart limit (a maximum per variant per cart), B2B quantity rules (for B2B buyers), and order value limits. Nothing native remembers yesterday's orders or the clock. So these need an app:
- Per-customer limits across orders β "one per customer", "3 a month".
- Daily, weekly or monthly order caps for the store or a product.
- Store hours and holiday closures that actually close checkout.
- Delivery and pickup dates, time slots and capacity per date or slot.
An app enforces these reliably only if Shopify checks them at checkout with a validation Function β which works on every plan, but not on POS, subscription renewals or orders created by other apps. The full rule-by-rule comparison, with sources, is in Shopify's native order limits vs apps. OrderRules is one such app; see how Shopify checkout validation works for the mechanism.
When the limits mean you need Plus
Plus removes or raises a handful of these limits: checkout UI on every step, custom apps with Functions, unlimited B2B catalogs and staff, 200 locations, more API capacity, no variant creation throttle, and stacked product discounts on one line. If none of those is a blocker, an App Store app usually covers the gap on a lower plan β including checkout validation, which every plan can use.
Sources
- Shopify Help Center: Adding variants Β· Product CSV Β· Product media types Β· Smart collections
- Shopify Help Center: Checkout extensibility Β· Script Editor migration Β· Order value limits Β· Add-to-cart limit
- Shopify Help Center: Staff accounts by plan Β· Locations Β· Market types Β· Discount combinations Β· robots.txt Β· Sitemap Β· Draft orders
- Shopify changelog: 2,048 variants (Oct 15, 2025) Β· Scripts editing ends (Mar 12, 2026) Β· B2B on non-Plus plans (Apr 2, 2026) Β· Order value limits on all plans (Apr 13, 2026) Β· checkout.liquid deprecation
- Shopify.dev: API limits Β· GraphQL Admin rate limits Β· Shopify Functions Β· Checkout validation API Β· Checkout UI extensions Β· Metaobject limits Β· robots.txt.liquid Β· Legacy customer accounts deprecated
- Shopify: Pricing